South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

The South Carolina Court of Appeals, in In re Cannupp, decided this week, held that there is no constitutional right against self-incrimination in a sexually violent predator proceeding.

the circuit court’s refusal to charge the jury that Appellant had a constitutional right to decline to take the witness stand was neither erroneous nor prejudicial. Under the current law, there exists no constitutional right to decline to take the witness stand in a civil proceeding, and it is not disputed that proceedings under the Act are civil in nature. Further, any adverse inference, permissible or impermissible, that the jury might have drawn from Appellant’s absence from the witness stand would not be outcome determinative in light of the overwhelming evidence that Appellant met the Act’s definition of a sexually violent predator.